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Belarusian ecotourism: travelling to mysterious island Du

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Belarusian ecotourism: travelling to mysterious island Du

06.11.2017 21:11

Belarus has always been famous for its beautiful nature, green forests, blue lakes and rivers. Nevertheless, not many have heard that a country with no access to the sea can be famous for having islands.

In the very north of Belarus in the natural reserve Osveyskoye there is a rather large island with an unusual name Du. The island is five square kilometers. Many years ago people used to live on this green hilly island, however, within time, people left the island and settled in other places. Still many people dispute on why this island has such an unusual name. One of the versions is that the island has Baltic roots.

Not a lot reminds that people lived on the island: foundations of houses and a 19th century cemetery. However, after people left the island, deer, swans, and roes have inhabited Du. The only way to reach the island today is by a boat.

In October of the current year public organizations “Bagna” and “Estonian Fund for Nature” have carried out a landscape architecture at the natural reserve. They intend creating an ecological route on the island. Therefore, Belarusian and Estonian landscape architects were studying the island and as a result the have come up with three ideas of creating ecological routes on Du. Certainly, it will attract more tourists to the area an develop tourism of Belarus as a whole.

The first project has the name Du it. It is orientated at attracting tourists’ attention to the landscape of the island. According to the main idea of the project, tourists will have an opportunity to study the relief and the peculiarities of Du’s nature. Therefore, authors of the project are planning to create three type of routes for tourists (short, mid and long distance and for people with disabilities). They are also planning to build a platform from which tourists will have an opportunity to watch birds and simply enjoy their stay on the island.

Durist is the name of the second project. It will be orientated at the visitors of the island. The developers of the project offer tourists to see the island from a different side, to be in the “wild”. What is more, informative quests are planned to be organized.

Finally, The third project is Make Du Great. The project focuses its attention on the past of the island, its history, and the existing buildings. The authors of the project suggest opening a museum there, so that tourists travel back in time and see for themselves what life used to be like on the island. It is also quite interesting to know that there will be a special place on Du where festivals and different events could be held.

The authors of the ideas are planning to present their projects fairly soon, and when the best of the best will be chosen, landscape architects will get down to work. They are saying that the first results will be seen in a couple of years’ time.